1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to an image processing method and apparatus and, more particularly, to an image processing method and apparatus which performs smoothing of a contour portion of an image.
2. Description of the Related Art
Printer apparatuses and facsimile apparatuses having printing devices for printing images with resolutions higher than those of input image data have are known. A smoothing technique is known, in which when the resolution of input image data is to be converted in accordance with the resolution of the printing device of such an apparatus, the pseudo-resolution is increased by interpolating the contour of an image. This smoothing technique is used to smooth the contour of an image by interpolating black pixels with respect to a contour portion.
If, however, the above conventional smoothing technique is used for ink-jet printer, since an ink blurs on a printing paper sheet, a smoothing process of interpolating black pixels results in an undesirable connection in an image, especially between thin lines. As a result, the image quality deteriorates.
In addition, since the number of black pixels printed increases upon interpolation, a larger amount of ink is consumed, resulting in an increase in the cost of running the apparatus.